Columbia, MD, is an upscale planned community where Luisa Brant lives. She has just been elected Howard County's states attorney and is preparing for a trial of a homeless man accused of murdering a woman when he broke into her apartment. Her face has been brutally bludgeoned.
In the process Lu's childhood memories at the age of eight about the death of a man who died at her bother's hand rise to the surface. A.J. was cleared of the death occurring because he was defending his best friend who was attacked. Now Lu begins to wonder how accurate those memories are. What if he meant to kill the man? Surely not. It appeared that the attacker died in the struggle for the knife making A.J. was a hero. Or was he? To further complicate the issue her father defended A.J.
Thus, the author sets the stage for a two pronged plot focusing on two deaths. As an adult, Lu understands what she perceived happened and what might have happened in both cases. The case when her brother went to trial made her father's career but is the outcome as her father proved in court? The tangled relationships with her father and brother further mar her thoughts about both cases.
This is a carefully constructed crime novel with convoluted depths the reader must probe to determine the truth. Lippman is a talented writer who wrote a fascinatingly complex crime story that prompts me to check out some of her other work. This one is nicely done.
In the process Lu's childhood memories at the age of eight about the death of a man who died at her bother's hand rise to the surface. A.J. was cleared of the death occurring because he was defending his best friend who was attacked. Now Lu begins to wonder how accurate those memories are. What if he meant to kill the man? Surely not. It appeared that the attacker died in the struggle for the knife making A.J. was a hero. Or was he? To further complicate the issue her father defended A.J.
Thus, the author sets the stage for a two pronged plot focusing on two deaths. As an adult, Lu understands what she perceived happened and what might have happened in both cases. The case when her brother went to trial made her father's career but is the outcome as her father proved in court? The tangled relationships with her father and brother further mar her thoughts about both cases.
This is a carefully constructed crime novel with convoluted depths the reader must probe to determine the truth. Lippman is a talented writer who wrote a fascinatingly complex crime story that prompts me to check out some of her other work. This one is nicely done.
